NYC Mayor Candidate Promises to Make the City Crypto-Friendly

A candidate for the mayor of New York City (NYC), Curtis Silwa said that he will transform the city into the ‘most crypto-friendly city’ in the United States, once he is elected. He has now joined a growing list of mayoral candidates and mayors who are promoting crypto adoption. Silwa is the chief executive officer and founder of the Guardian Angels, a non-profit organization aimed at unarmed crime protection, and is also a host of a radio talk show. He stated in a tweet that he would make NYC the most crypto-friendly city in the country and people would be able to pay their fines, taxes, and fees in cryptocurrency. 

He added that they would set up more crypto ATMs and would also incentivize businesses for accepting crypto. He said that they had to modernize their economy and make it accessible for everyone. An important thing to note is that Silwa is not the only candidate for mayor for the city who wants to see it become a major crypto hub. Former police president and Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, who is also currently running for the mayoral position of NYC also promised something similar in June. He said that the city would become ‘the center of bitcoins’ and ‘the center of all technology’ in a year. 

Silwa won the Republican mayoral primary, whereas Adams managed to prevail in the Democratic mayoral primary. Andrew Yang, the former presidential candidate, was also running for the position of mayor of New York. He also promised that once he becomes mayor, he would make the city ‘a hub for bitcoin and another crypto’. It should also be noted that he is in favor of universal basic income (UBI) and wants to introduce the ‘largest basic income program’. A couple of other mayors in some of the cities of the US have also made some efforts to give the adoption of bitcoin and another crypto a boost. 

Recently, the mayor of the city of Jackson, Tennessee said that the price of bitcoin would continue to appreciate as the Federal Reserve continues to print money. He stated that he considers bitcoin to be the future of the monetary system. As for the mayor of Miami, Florida, he has been putting in efforts to get his city to permit payments in bitcoin and also keep some of the cryptos in the treasury. Likewise, the mayor of the other US city of Cool Valley, Missouri is working on raising funds that can help in giving bitcoin to all residents within the city. 

Whether New York City will become a crypto-friendly city or not remains to be seen, but it is quite obvious that a number of other US states are also moving towards growing crypto adoption. This is despite the reluctance of the regulators to introduce laws pertaining to digital currencies, even though they are becoming widely used and accepted, not just in the country, but on an international scale.